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1.
Henry Allingham
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Henry William Allingham was a British supercentenarian, the oldest British man ever, First World War veteran and, for one month, the verified oldest living man in the world. He is also the second-oldest military veteran ever, and at the time of his death, Allingham was the oldest ever surviving member of any of the British Armed Forces and one of the oldest surviving veterans of the First World War. He was the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service and he received many honours and awards for his First World War service and his longevity. Allingham was born in 1896 in Clapton, County of London, when he was 14 months old, his father, Henry Thomas Allingham, died at age 29 of tuberculosis. Henry is recorded in the 1901 census with his widowed mother Amy Jane Allingham and his mother remarried in 1905 to Hubert George Higgs and in 1907 the family moved to Clapham, London. Henry and his mother are recorded in the 1911 Census living at 21 Heyford Avenue, Lambeth, Henry attended a London County Council school before attending the Regent Street Polytechnic. Allingham remembered seeing the City Imperial Volunteers return from the Second Boer War, on leaving school, Allingham started work as a trainee surgical instrument maker at St. Bartholomews Hospital. He did not find this job very interesting, and so left to work for a coachbuilder specialising in car bodies. Allingham wanted to join the war effort in August 1914 as a despatch rider, however, after his mother died in 1915, aged 42, Allingham enlisted with the Royal Naval Air Service. He became formally rated as an Air Mechanic Second Class on 21 September 1915 and his RNAS serial number was RNAS F8317. After graduation, Allingham was posted to the RNAS Air Station at Great Yarmouth where he worked in aircraft maintenance, on 13 April 1916, King George V inspected the air station and its aircraft. Allingham later reported disappointment at barely missing an opportunity to speak with the king, Allingham also worked in Bacton, Norfolk, further up the coast, where night-flying was conducted and was later involved in supporting anti-submarine patrols. A typical patrol would last two or three days and would involve the manual labour of hoisting a seaplane in and out of the water by means of a deck-mounted derrick. During the preparations for what has become known as the Battle of Jutland, onboard was a Sopwith Schneider seaplane that was used to patrol the surrounding waters for the German High Seas Fleet. Allinghams responsibilities included helping to launch this aircraft, in September 1917, Allingham, by then an Air Mechanic First Class, was posted to the Western Front to join No.12 Squadron RNAS. This unit acted as a squadron for other RNAS squadrons based on the Western Front. There is also evidence that the squadron was involved in combat operations. When Allingham arrived at Petite-Synthe, both the Royal Flying Corps and the RNAS were involved in the Ypres offensive, Allingham also instrumented the very first reconnaissance aircraft camera during the First World War

2.
Frank Buckles
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Frank Woodruff Buckles was a United States Army soldier and the last surviving American veteran of World War I. He enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1917 at the age of 16 and served with a detachment from Fort Riley, driving ambulances and motorcycles near the front lines in Europe. During World War II, he was captured by Japanese forces while working in the shipping business, after the war, Buckles married in San Francisco and moved to Gap View Farm near Charles Town, West Virginia. A widower at age 98, he worked on his farm until the age of 105, in his last years, he was Honorary Chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation. As chairman, he advocated the establishment of a World War I memorial similar to war memorials in Washington. Toward this end, Buckles campaigned for the District of Columbia War Memorial to be renamed the National World War I Memorial and he testified before Congress in support of this cause, and met with President George W. Bush at the White House. His funeral was on March 15,2011, at Arlington National Cemetery, Buckles was born to James Clark Buckles, a farmer, and Theresa J. Buckles in Bethany, Missouri, on February 1,1901. He had two brothers, Ashman and Roy, and two older sisters, Grace and Gladys. Several family members lived long lives, he remembered speaking with his grandmother who was born in 1817 and his ancestry included soldiers of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. In 1903, Frank—then known as Wood—and his brother Ashman contracted scarlet fever, Frank survived, but Ashman died from the disease at the age of four. Between 1911 and 1916, Buckles attended school in Walker, Missouri, later, he and his family moved to Oakwood, Oklahoma, where he continued his schooling and worked at a bank. He was a wireless operator, and an avid reader of newspapers. Five months after the American entry into World War I, Buckles sought to enlist in the armed forces and he was turned down by the Marine Corps for being too small, and by the Navy, which claimed that he had flat feet. He fared better with the Army, which accepted that he was an adult even though he looked no older than his 16 years, a sergeant advised that a middle initial would be helpful, so he adopted his uncles name, Frank Woodruff Buckles. Another sergeant suggested that the quickest way to the front lines would be to seek a position driving ambulances, Buckles enlisted on August 14,1917, and went through basic training at Fort Riley in Kansas. Later that year, he embarked for Europe aboard the RMS Carpathia, during the war, Buckles drove ambulances and motorcycles for the Armys 1st Fort Riley Casual Detachment, first in England and then France. He later recalled his service as a doughboy, There was never a shortage of bodies that needed to be rushed to the nearest medical care. The British and French troops were in bad shape – even guys about my age looked old, after three years of living and dying inside a dirt trench, you know the Brits and French were happy to see us doughboys

3.
Claude Choules
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He was also the last surviving veteran to have served in both world wars, and the last surviving seaman from the First World War. At the time of his death, he was also the third-oldest verified military veteran in the world and he was the seventh-oldest living man in the world. Choules became the oldest man born in the United Kingdom following the death of Stanley Lucas on 21 June 2010, Choules died in Perth, Western Australia, at the age of 110. He had been the oldest British-born man, following his death, in December 2011, the landing ship HMAS Choules was named after him, only the second Royal Australian Navy vessel named after a sailor. Claude Choules was born in Pershore, Worcestershire, on 3 March 1901, the son of Harry and Madeline, Claude was one of seven children, although two died in early childhood. The surviving siblings were Douglas, Leslie, Phyllis and Gwendoline and his mother left home when Claude was five, returning to the stage as an actress, and he and his older brothers were raised by his father. His older sister Phyllis lived with the family of an uncle, while his younger sister Gwendoline was adopted by the family of a paternal aunt. Claude and his brothers went to Pershore National Boys School, though Douglas. Choules was able to leave school when he turned 14, at which point he attempted to enlist in the army as a boy but was rejected as he was too young. Choules father then arranged for him to train to join the navy instead and this training ship was moored on the River Hamble, near Southampton, Hampshire, and had a dormitory ship called HMS President that had previously been HMS Gannet. The commander of the Mercury training site was the cricketer C. B, fry, and Choules time there included trips to Netley Hospital as part of the Mercurys dancing team. Choules transferred there on 10 October 1916, for what was to be the stage of his training before joining the Royal Navys Grand Fleet. On 20 October 1917, Choules joined the battleship Revenge, which was the flagship of the First Battle Squadron, in 1926, along with 11 other Royal Navy senior sailors, Choules travelled to Australia on loan as an instructor at Flinders Naval Depot. Choules decided to transfer permanently to the Royal Australian Navy after sampling and agreeing with the Australian way of life, in fact, he was only two days younger than the RAN, which was established on 1 March 1901. He took his discharge from the RAN in 1931, but remained in the reserves and rejoined the RAN in 1932 as a petty officer torpedo. He never returned to England after leaving and he was tasked with sabotaging Fremantle harbours and related oil storage tanks in the event of a Japanese invasion. Choules was also responsible for dealing with the first German mine to wash up on Australian soil during the war, near Esperance, Choules and his wife Ethel were married for 76 years, until her death at age 98. Choules shunned celebrations of the Armistice, because he was against the glorification of war and his autobiography The Last of the Last was first published in Perth in 2009, followed by an annotated edition for UK readers in 2010

4.
Richard Arvin Overton
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Richard Arvine Overton is an American supercentenarian who at age 110 years,330 days, is the oldest verified surviving United States war veteran. He is a veteran of World War II, and has been honored by U. S. President Barack Obama and currently lives in Austin, Overton was born in Bastrop County, Texas to Jim Gentry Overton and Elizabeth Lizzie Franklin Overton Waters. His fathers paternal grandfather, John Overton, Jr. was white, President Andrew Jackson is also a distant relative to Overton. Overton enlisted in the U. S. military on September 3,1940 at Fort Sam Houston and he served in the South Pacific from 1940 through 1945, including stops in Hawaii, Guam, Palau and Iwo Jima. He left the U. S. Army in October 1945 as a corporal, Overton worked at local furniture stores before taking a position with the Texas Department of the Treasury in Austin. He was married twice and never had children, Overton gained some attention on the Internet during the Memorial Day weekend in 2013 when he told Fox News he would spend his Memorial Day smoking cigars and drinking whiskey-stiffened coffee. On that same Memorial Day, Overton met with Texas Governor Rick Perry, during an NBA game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies on March 24,2017, Overton was honored during a half-time break. Overton is the subject of a 2016 documentary, Mr. Overton, in which he is interviewed about his daily routine, thoughts on his longevity and it is currently on the film festival circuit. On May 3, he became the oldest surviving American veteran after the death of Frank Levingston, when he was 82 years old, his wife, Wilma, died in 1988. In November 2015, Overton was hospitalized there for pneumonia at the age of 109, on May 11,2016, Overton became a supercentenarian, when he reached the age of 110. He is currently the second-oldest living man in the U. S, the eighth-oldest living man in the world and the 100th oldest living person in the world as of 1 April 2017

5.
Zhou Youguang
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Zhou was born as Zhou Yaoping in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, on 13 January 1906 to a Qing Dynasty official. At the age of ten, he and his moved to Suzhou. In 1918, he entered Changzhou High School, during which time he first took an interest in linguistics and he graduated in 1923 with honours. Zhou enrolled the same year in St. Johns University, Shanghai where he majored in economics and he was almost unable to attend due to his familys poverty, but friends and relatives fundraised 200 yuan for the admission fee, and also helped him pay for tuition. He left during the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925 and transferred to Guanghua University, on 30 April 1933, Zhou married Zhang Yunhe, and the couple went to Japan for Zhous studies. Kawakamis arrest for joining the outlawed Japanese Communist Party in January 1933, however, Zhous son, Zhou Xiaoping, was born in 1934. Later, the also had a daughter, Zhou Xiaohe. In 1937, due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhou and his moved to the wartime capital Chongqing. He worked for Sin Hua Bank before entering service as a deputy director at the National Governments Ministry of Economic Affairs. After the 1945 Japanese defeat in World War II, Zhou went back to work for Sin Hua where he was stationed overseas, first in New York City, during his time in the United States, he met Albert Einstein twice. In 1955, the government placed Zhou at the head of a committee to reform the Chinese language to increase literacy, Zhou said the task took about three years, and was a full-time job. Pinyin was made the official romanization in 1958, although it was only a pronunciation guide, in April 1979, the International Organization for Standardization in Warsaw held a technology conference. Speaking on behalf of the Peoples Republic of China, Zhou proposed the use of the Hanyu Pinyin System as the standard for the spelling of Chinese. Following a vote in 1982 the scheme became ISO7098, in the modern era Pinyin has largely replaced older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles. It is the vehicle for most Chinese language computer input. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou was sent to live in the countryside and to be re-educated and he spent two years at a labour camp. After 1980, Zhou worked with Liu Zunqi and Chien Wei-zang on translating the Encyclopædia Britannica into Chinese, from 2000, he wrote ten books, of which some have been banned in China. He became an advocate of reform, and was critical of the Communist Party of Chinas attacks on traditional Chinese culture when it came into power

6.
Harry Patch
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He is known to have fought in the trenches of the Western Front. At the time of his death, aged 111 years,1 month,1 week and 1 day, Patch was the third-oldest man in the world, Patch was born in the village of Combe Down, near Bath, Somerset, England. The family are recorded at the same address Fonthill Cottage in the 1911 census and his elder brothers are recorded as a carpenter and banker mason. Longevity ran in Patchs family, his father lived to 82, his mother to 94, his brother George to 95, Patch left school in 1913 and became an apprentice plumber in Bath. In October 1916, during World War I, he was conscripted into the British Army as a private, reporting for duty at Tolland Barracks, Taunton. During the winter of 1916–17 he was promoted lance-corporal but was demoted after a fist fight with a soldier, who had taken his boots from his billet, Patch arrived in France in June 1917. He fought on the Western Front at the Battle of Passchendaele and was injured in the groin and he was removed from the front line and returned to England on 23 December 1917. Patch referred to 22 September as his personal Remembrance Day and he was still convalescing on the Isle of Wight when the Armistice with Germany was declared the following November. A year above the age to be called up for service at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he became a part-time fireman in Bath. Later in the war he moved to Street, Somerset, where he ran a company until his retirement at the age of 65. Patch married Ada Emily Billington at the Parish Church, Hadley, Harry and Ada had two children. Denis Howard Patch and Gordon Roy Patch, Ada suffered a severe stroke in 1976 and died at Wells and District Hospital on 20 September 1976, aged 85. Harry married Kathleen Alice Joy at Mendip Register Office on 5 June 1982, Harry was 83 and Kathleen, known as Jean, was 80. Jean died of breast cancer at St. Margarets Hospice, aged 87 on 18 March 1989, harrys eldest son, Denis, was deeply affected by his mothers death and began drinking heavily. Denis died at Kings College Hospital, London in 1987 of Cirrhosis of the Liver, at the age of 100, Harry moved to Fletcher House Nursing Home. Harry found a companion in widow Doris Whitaker, Harry became estranged from his son Gordon, known as Roy following Denis death and they did not speak for the last twenty years of Roys life. Roy died of cancer in 2002 aged 75, harrys partner Doris died on 19 March 2007 aged 92. Patch was featured in the 2003 television series World War 1 in Colour and said if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasnt scared and he reflected on his lost friends and the moment when he came face to face with a German soldier

7.
Walter Breuning
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Walter Breuning was an American supercentenarian. At the time of his death he was the fourth oldest verified undisputed man ever, Walter Breuning was born in Melrose, Minnesota. He was the son of John Breuning and Cora Morehouse Breuning, in 1901 when he was 5, his family moved to De Smet, South Dakota, where he went to school for nine years until his family broke up in 1910. Breuning referred to time as the dark ages, as his family lived without electricity, water. Apart from his parents who died at 50 and 46, longevity runs in Breunings family and his paternal and maternal grandparents lived into their 90s and his siblings lived to ages 78,85,91, and 100. His only surviving family are 1 niece and 3 nephews all now in their 80s, plus great-nieces, in 1910 aged 14, Breuning dropped out of school and began scraping bakery pans for $2.50 weekly. He joined the Great Northern Railway in 1913, working for it for more than fifty years, during his early years, Breuning commented that he would have to hide from owner James J. Hill, as Hill did not want any railroad employees under the age of 18. Breuning worked for the Great Northern Railway until age 66, and was also a manager/secretary for the local Shriners club until age 99, during World War I, he signed up for military service, but was never called up. When World War II broke out, he was too old to serve and he moved to Montana in 1918, where he continued working as a clerk for the Great Northern Railway. There, he met Agnes Twokey, an operator from Butte. He was married to her from 1922 until her death in 1957. They had no children, and it was believed that Breuning never remarried, as he stated that Second marriages never work, even first marriages dont work today. ”However, after his death, Breuning was a Freemason, and a member of Great Falls Lodge No. 118, Great Falls, Montana, for over 85 years and he held the 33rd Degree of the Scottish Rite. Breuning lived at the Rainbow Retirement and Assisted Living Center in Great Falls, Montana for 32 years, the Rainbow Hotel turned into Rainbow Assisted Living Center in 1996. Each year starting with his 100th, The Rainbow held a Birthday Party for Breuning, as he became older, and especially after gaining the title of Oldest Living Man in July 2009, the world media flocked to these occasions, if only to hear Breunings annual birthday speech. Breuning was a cigar smoker, but says in an interview at age 110 that he quit in 1999 when he was 103. However, at the age of 108 he briefly started smoking again, on his 112th birthday, Breuning said the secret to long life is being active, If you keep your mind busy and keep your body busy, youre going to be around a long time. Breuning dressed in a suit and tie every day, on April 24,2009, at the age of 112, Breuning was interviewed on CBS by Steve Hartman for Assignment America

8.
Hillel the Elder
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Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud and he is popularly known as the author of two sayings, If I am not for myself who is for me. And being for my own self, what am I, and the expression of the ethic of reciprocity, or Golden Rule, That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah, the rest is the explanation, go and learn. Hillel was born in Babylon and, according to the Iggeret of Rav Sherira Gaon, Hillel descended from the Tribe of Benjamin on his fathers side, and from the family of David on his mothers side. Only Hillels brother Shebna is mentioned, he was a merchant, Hillel lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod and the Roman emperor Augustus. In the Midrash compilation Sifre, the periods of Hillels life are made parallel to those in the life of Moses. Both lived 120 years, and at the age of forty Hillel went to the Land of Israel, forty years he spent in study, a biographical sketch can be constructed, that Hillel went to Jerusalem in the prime of his life and attained a great age. His activity of forty years likely covered the period of 30 BCE to 10 CE, according to the Mishnah Hillel went to Jerusalem with the intention of studying biblical exposition and tradition at the age of 40 in 70 BCE. On that occasion, it is narrated, they resigned their position as Nasi in favor of Hillel. After the resignation of the Benei Betheira, Hillel was recognized as the highest authority among the Pharisees, whatever Hillels position, his authority was sufficient to introduce those decrees handed down in his name. The most famous of his enactments was the Prozbul, an institution that, a likewise tendency is found in another of Hillels institutions, having reference to the sale of houses. These two are the only institutions handed down in Hillels name, although the words that introduce the show that there were others. Of other official acts no mention is found in the sources, some of Hillel the Elders teachings remain commonly known. However, at least two other notable Hillels came after him, and some scholars have suggested that some attributed to Hillel may have originated from them. In mentioning these characteristics, which the Haggadah attributes to Moses brother and he considered love of man the kernel of Jewish teaching. The comparative response to the challenge of a Gentile who asked that the Torah be explained to him while he stood on one foot, illustrates the character differences between Shammai and Hillel. Hillels gentleness and patience are illustrated in an anecdote that describes how two men made a wager on the question of whether Hillel could be made angry, though they questioned him and made insulting allusions to his Babylonian origin, they were unsuccessful

9.
Mark Matthews
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Mark Matthews was an American veteran of the Second World War and a Buffalo Soldier. While stationed in Arizona, he joined General John J. Pershings Mexico expedition to hunt down Mexican general Pancho Villa. He was later transferred to Virginia, where he took care of President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanors horses and was a member of the Buffalo Soldiers drum and bugle corps. In his late 40s, he served in operations in the South Pacific during World War II. He was noted as an excellent marksman and horse showman, leaving the United States Army a few years before it was integrated, Matthews then took a job as a security guard in Maryland, rising to the rank of chief of the guards and then retiring in 1970. After the war, he told stories of experiences and grew to become a symbol of the Buffalo Soldiers. He met with Bill Clinton and Colin Powell in his later years, having experienced excellent health for most of his life, Matthews died of pneumonia at the age of 111 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was recognized as the oldest living Buffalo Soldier as well as the oldest man, Matthews was born in Greenville, Alabama and grew up in Mansfield, Ohio. His horse riding career began early, when he would deliver newspapers on the back of a pony. When he was only 15 years old, he met members of the 10th Cavalry, although there is disagreement as to the origins of the name Buffalo Soldiers, it referred to several segregated units within the United States army. Although the legal age of recruitment was 17 at the time, documents were forged and Matthews signed up to join the army in Columbus, after his training, Matthews was first stationed in Fort Huachuca in Arizona. At the time, the army was still using Native Americans as guides in the western United States, during his tenure in the state, he was regarded as an excellent marksman. Next, he joined General John J. Pershings campaign into Mexico in 1916 to hunt for Pancho Villa, although Matthews admitted to never having met Villa, he would claim that I knew where he was at. In 1931, he was transferred to Fort Myer in Virginia, while stationed there, Matthews and some of his troops were escorts for King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth when they came to visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House. He earned acclaim for his shows, which helped sell war bonds during World War II. He also played on the team while stationed in the state. He was also a member of the Buffalo Soldiers drum and bugle corps, and performed at funerals in Arlington National Cemetery, where he himself would later be buried. Since the Army would not allow colored soldiers to be seen at white funerals at this time, a decade later, he fought in World War II and saw combat action at the Battle of Saipan in the South Pacific

10.
Male
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A male organism is the physiological sex that produces sperm. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a female gamete, or ovum. A male cannot reproduce sexually without access to at least one ovum from a female, most male mammals, including male humans, have a Y chromosome, which codes for the production of larger amounts of testosterone to develop male reproductive organs. Not all species share a common sex-determination system, in most animals, including humans, sex is determined genetically, but in some species it can be determined due to social, environmental, or other factors. For example, Cymothoa exigua changes sex depending on the number of females present in the vicinity, the existence of two sexes seems to have been selected independently across different evolutionary lineages. There is an argument that this pattern was driven by the physical constraints on the mechanisms by which two gametes get together as required for sexual reproduction. Accordingly, sex is defined operationally across species by the type of gametes produced, male/female dimorphism between organisms or reproductive organs of different sexes is not limited to animals, male gametes are produced by chytrids, diatoms and land plants, among others. In land plants, female and male designate not only the female and male gamete-producing organisms and structures, as of the year 2012, the United Arab Emirates has the highest ratio of human males in the world, followed by Qatar. A common symbol used to represent the male sex is the Mars symbol, the symbol is identical to the planetary symbol of Mars. It was first used to sex by Carl Linnaeus in 1751. The symbol is called a stylized representation of the Roman god Mars shield. According to Stearn, however, all the historical evidence favours that it is derived from θρ, the sex of a particular organism may be determined by a number of factors. These may be genetic or environmental, or may change during the course of an organisms life. Although most species with male and female sexes have individuals that are male or female, hermaphroditic animals. Most mammals, including humans, are determined as such by the XY sex-determination system where males have an XY sex chromosome. During reproduction, a male can give either an X sperm or a Y sperm, a Y sperm and an X egg produce a male, while an X sperm and an X egg produce a female. The part of the Y-chromosome which is responsible for maleness is the region of the Y-chromosome. The ZW sex-determination system, where males have a ZZ sex chromosome may be found in birds and some insects and other organisms